Waves Review
Section 1 1. What is a wave? Rhythmic disturbances that carry energy without carrying matter 2. What type of mediums can both mechanical and electromagnetic wave travel through? Solid, liquid, or gas
3. What type of waves causes the matter to move up and down or back and forth at ninety degree angles? Transverse wave 4. What type of wave only carries the energy forward and backward in the same direction the wave travels? Compressional wave
5. What are all waves produced from? vibrations 6. What is it called when the molecules are squeezed together? Compression 7. What is it called when the molecules are far apart? rarerefraction
8. What type of wave doesn’t need matter as a medium? Electromagnetic wave 9. What are types of waves that can travel through space? Light, infrared, visible, radio, ultraviolet 10. What do waves carry? energy
Section 2 1. What is amplitude? one-half the distance between the crest and the trough 2. Do loud sounds or soft sounds carry more energy? Why? Loud sounds because they have a bigger wave
3. What is wavelength? the distance from the top of the crest to the top of the next crest or the bottom of one trough to the next trough 4. Why is wavelength an important characteristic of a wave? Because it determines what type of wave it is such as what color a light will be 5. What is the measurement used for wave frequency? Hertz (Hz)
6. What two characteristics are related? Frequency and wavelength 7. If a wavelength is longer, what happens to the frequency? The frequency decreases 8. Which travels faster: light or sound? light
9. What kind of mediums do electromagnetic waves travel faster in? Ones with fewer atoms in the medium, such as gases 10. What is the wave frequency range that a human can hear? 20 – 20,000 Hertz
Section 3 1. What is reflection? when a wave strikes an object or surface and bounces off 2. What is a sound wave example of a reflection? Light wave? An echo and a reflection 3. What is refraction? the bending of a wave as it moves from one medium into another
4. What causes an object to appear in a different location under water than where it actually is located? Refraction 5. When does refraction occur? when the speed of a wave changes as it passes from one substance to another
6. How is a rainbow produced? Sunlight refracts as it enters raindrops, reflects from the far inside surfaces of the drops, and refracts as it leaves the drops 7. What is diffraction? the bending of waves around a barrier
8. How is diffraction different from refraction? Refraction is the bending of a wave as it moves from one medium into another and diffraction is when a waves bends around a barrier 9. What diffracts more than a light wave? a sound wave
10. When is a wave diffracted more? when its wavelength is similar in size to the barrier or opening 11. Why can we hear sounds down the hall but not see what is happening inside of a room down the hall? Because a sound wave is much bigger than a light wave and the sound wave can go farther than a light wave
12. What happens when two waves meet? Waves pass right through each other and continue moving as though the other wave never existed 13. What is interference? the ability of two waves to combine and form a new wave when they overlap
14. What is the difference between constructive interference and destructive interference? Constructive interference is when the crest of one wave overlaps the crest of the other and destructive interference is when the crest of one wave overlaps the trough of another wave
15. What happens to the wave amplitude during constructive interference? Destructive interference? During constructive interference the wave amplitude gets bigger and during destructive interference it gets smaller
16. What happens when two waves meet and have them same amplitude? They cancel each other out during the overlap